How almost HALF of U.S. women suffer from adult acne (but the good news is that the figure is falling)

How almost HALF of U.S. women suffer from adult acne (but the good news is that the figure is falling)

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UPDATED:

16:02 GMT, 17 May 2012

Almost half of U.S. woman aged between 21 and 30 suffer from clinical acne, a new study has showed.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that 45per cent of women in their 20s are seriously affected by pimples.

But the staggering figure is more positive compared to the one determined by the University of Alabama in 2006. The university's findings stated that 50.9per cent of women in their 20s experience post-adolescent acne.

Break out: Almost half of American women have been found to suffer from clinical acne but it is less than the amount of women found to be affected in 2006

The new study, which was published in the February issue of the Journal Of Women's Health, also found that 26per cent of women aged 31 to 40 get pimples and 12per cent of women aged 41 to 50 do also.

Researchers looked at 2895 women aged between 10 and 70 whose photographs were each examined for 'acne lesions, scars and dyspigmentation'.

While the study acknowledged that 'the photographic nature of the study imposes general limitations', researchers also determined that women who smoke get more pimples than those who do not smoke.

The study stated that more than a quarter of the women who took part in the research had acne.

It read: '[Acne] peaked in the teens but continued to be prevalent through the fifth decade.'

While no cause has been determined, medical experts have attributed adult acne to a person's diet.

Dr Jeanine Downie, a dermatologist from Montclair, New Jersey, told The New York Times: 'Whenever hormones surge – around your period… when you're pregnant, when you start or stop the Pill, and, yes, when you're stressed or eat hormone-enhanced foods, i.e. non organic meat and dairy – skin changes can occur.'

Hormones can overstimulate a person's oil glands which then results in the output of extra sebum, the oil that causes pimples.

Dr Joshua Zeichner, a director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, recommends that adults use small amounts of treatment cream in their attempts to eliminate blemishes.

'Less can be more, especially when it comes to adult acne,' he said.

Aging skin is said to be drier than more youthful skin due to more years of sun exposure.

He also suggested discarding treatments that contain five or ten per cent benzoyl peroxide, which is the standard antiseptic amount used to treat teenage acne.